Newbie thinking about starting a simple community tank

[cadd]

My family had a 75 gallon gold fish tank in the basement when I was a kid in the 80s. I remember my dad using a 13 gallon kitchen garbage bin with a water pump submerged at the bottom as means to filter the water. If I remember correctly we had 5 layers of filter material in that garbage bin.

We had that tank for a good 5 or 10 years and ended up giving it away (along with the fish) when everyone lost interest in it.

Fast forward 20 years and the aquarium interest sparked within. I did a little research and boy ol boy, the technology has sky rocketed. I see canister filters now! I see LED lights! Master test kits, etc. Back in the day, I remember my dad filling up 3 or 4 five gallon buckets and allowing them to sit for a week before changing the water. After changing the water, he'll fill up the 5 gallon buckets and allow them to sit for another week for next week's water change.

To be completely honest, I'm not sure what size tank I want yet. Maybe 20 gallons. But I do know, NO MORE GOLD FISH! They just poop and eat and poop and grow non stop.

I would prefer to stick with tropical fish. Smaller fish. Maybe guppies, mollies, swordtails or other schooling fish like tetras or danios.

I plan on getting a canister filter like the Penn Cascade 1000 and get started on the right foot with a filter that's capable of handling a larger tank if I eventually get really into this hobby.

So, I'm here looking for advice and guidance. I'm excited to get started, but I know I 'll have to be patient and so I'll do things right the first time (read up on fishless cycle already).

My budget is a little tight for now. I'll have to wait for sales for equipment. Questions:

1 - Is there a particular brand of tank I should avoid at all cost? Or are all tanks decent nowadays? Where should I purchase the tanks from? From my quick research, I see Petco run sales for $1/gallon tanks a few times a year. If I go the craigslist route, what should I look for?

2 - Is a stand mandatory? Will a few pieces of painted 2x4s nailed/screwed together in a sturdy fashion be looked down upon?

3 - What color/type/size of substrate should I look at? I don't want your typical beige pebbles that I had as a kid. Maybe a darker substrate?

4 - Would the Penn Plax Cascade 1000 cause too strong of a current for a 20g tank for these smaller fish?

5 - I plan on making a DIY lid out of plexiglass or using a ceiling light panel like this and put a light fixture directly on top of it.(Plaskolite 4 ft. x 2 ft. Suspended Light Ceiling Panel-1199233A - The Home Depot). Would that be OK to use? I heard fish tank covers and lights are pretty expensive.

I'm open to all ideas and suggestions. And if you can provide links to equipment, that would be greatly appreciated! And if there's a "deals" section of this forum somewhere, please point me to it. Again, I'm excited and eager, but I'll try to be patient and wait for sales before jumping in head first in purchasing equipment.

 

[Baker]

You can find dollar per gallon sales at both pet o and pet smart, call in and ask the employees when their next sale will happen. This is a great way to get pretty cheap large tanks but the smaller sizes are generally pretty cheap anyway. I would recommend something larger than a 20 simply because it will be easier to maintain healthy water as a beginner but you can pull it off with a 20 gallon if you're dedicated. I would personally start with a 30 though, fish tanks are expensive to equip and smaller tanks don't usually mean cheaper builds.
You mentioned a diy stand, this is very common and much cheaper than buying a new stand. They're fairly easy to build and here are many tutorials on youtube that can walk you through the build. However, if you're going the craigslist route, it's quite easy to find tanks and stands being sold together for extremely good deals. A 20-30 gallon with a stand is quite common for around 60 bucks, at least in places that I've lived that has always been the case. You can even get second hand equipment on Craigslist though I don't recommend it because things like pumps and filters are unfortunately practically designed to break down quickly these days.
Seeing as how you have plenty of time before you start picking fish I recommend finding out your tap water chemistry (which can be found by calling or checking your water providers site for Ph Gh Kh etc.
Once you have these levels research fish that you like to see what parameters they like, or post the levels for us and we can give recommendations that you can look into.
Another thing is that I would recommend starting out with a planted tank if you didn't already decide to go that route, fake decorations are fine too but planted tanks are not really any harder to maintain and they have the added bonus of cleaning the water, looking more natural, and not needing to be cleaned off every other month or so. Just make sure you get water column feeders as they are a little easier to keep in my opinionsubstrate will be entirely up to you but things like plant growing substrates and crushed coral will effect the water chemistry so avoid those unless you know what you're doing.
The ceiling tile that you linked is fine, I know a lot of people use it, as is th case with plexiglass.
Hope I covered most questions and if you need anything else just let us know

 

[cadd]

Great tip on testing the tap water first! I'll do that as soon as I order a testing kit. I also think I'm leaning towards a 55 gallon tank. It'll probably be easier to maintain as a newbie and allows for a larger margin of error.

 

[cadd]

To give you guys an idea what I had in mind visually:
Ideally, my goal is to have a tank that looks something like this eventually (with a tiny bit of live plants)

And with smaller fish similar this:

Additionally, can a 55 gallon reptile tank be used for fish? I see a 55 gallon tank + stand on CL that was used for reptiles for $75. Or should I just stick with tanks that have been used for fish?

Now, if I go the Craigslist route for a tank, is it rude/offensive/impolite to request they fill it with water? It seems like it'll be a lot of work for them. Or is this a customary thing for this hobby?

 

[Baker]

You should not buy a tank if they refuse to allow you to do a water test. However, visual inspection is usually enough to make sure it doesn't leak. I would avoid reptile tanks just to be safe.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

In m experience, a fish tank can be used for reptiles, but it should not go the other way. The glass for fish tanks are designed specifically too deal with a tremendous amount of pressure. Reptile tanks don't need to be built to those same specs, because the pressure is,basically just the weight of the tank itself... nothing more... which is also why the price is so low. Thinner glass is cheaper... not having to ensure that it's 100% water proof is cheaper.


Fish tanks only for fish.